The Question of Academic Freedom: Universal Right or Relative Term

In this essay, we interrogate the role of academic freedom in the 21st century by describing its historical genesis in the modern university, its association with the concept of tenure, and how it is reinterpreted by different cultural and social contexts. Afterwards, we examine traditional infringements by national governments upon academic freedom, as well as new infringements brought on by the forces of globalization and commercialization. Since academic freedom not only protects scholarly inquiry, but the health and safety of academics across the world, we argue that academic freedom is a “transcendent value” that should be respected by political and institutional forces and carefully defended by engaged scholars.